


On our own time, in our own way

by royalgreen (allyoop)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cute, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, No Angst, No Spoilers, Not super holiday specific so don't worry about not reading it on new year's eve proper!, Party, Romantic Fluff, Shadowgast, Short & Sweet, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:22:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28475367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyoop/pseuds/royalgreen
Summary: Essek wanted to follow the new year's traditions he had just learned about.... but in his panic he doesn't kiss Caleb, he kisses.... someone else.
Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 6
Kudos: 84





	On our own time, in our own way

**Author's Note:**

> Happy new years eve :) I hope this fic brings you a little joy in the new year!

“Jester has told me of several new year’s traditions…” Essek ran a finger across the top of his mostly empty wine glass. It was number three or four; his anxiety had gotten the better of him.

“Oh? I am sure some of them may be exaggerated in nature. She does love her pranks.” Caleb chuckled, looking a little flushed himself from the ever flowing wine in the Lavish Chateau tonight.

Essek felt a smidgen of relief. “I am actually glad to hear that. So, the traditional water bucket toss of icy water?”

“Ah, that one is not real.” Caleb replied.

“Drinking the same number of glasses as years of your life?”

“Another joke,” Caleb laughed. “And would prove quite difficult for some of us.” He rested a hand on Essek’s arm with a smile.

“Then, finding someone to kiss when the clock strikes midnight in order to be lucky with love in the new year, that certainly is a joke of hers as well?”

“Oh,” Caleb blinked a few times. “Ah, well, that one is real. Perhaps not the _luck_ part, but yes, the kissing…” He looked down to where his hand rested on Essek’s arm, as if noticing it for the first time.

Essek too was fascinated with the hand resting on his forearm, carefully avoiding looking right ino Caleb’s blue eyes or, even worse, glancing at his lips. His wine glass suddenly felt much too empty.

The crowd around them seemed to surge into high octane energy, voices raised loudly against the music playing, numbers being counted down from ten.

“It’s almost-” Essek started.

“It is, and-” Caleb answered.

Essek was panicking, he was _very much_ panicking. He glanced around, there were so many people crushing in around them but Caleb was right in front of him, Caleb and no one else, only Frumpkin circling down by their ankles. His wine glass felt fragile in his sweaty hand, there were mere inches between them, and now the noise erupting from the crowd was a time bomb of four-three-two--- 

.

.

.

Jester bumped into Caleb twenty something minutes after midnight looking flushed in the face, her lipstick smeared, but otherwise impeccably dressed and overflowingly happy.

“Ooh, Caleb.” She grinned at him and reached up to pinch a cheek. “Happy new year! Were you able to find Essek in time? I did push him over to where you were standing.”

Caleb gave Jester a stricken expression and she immediately stopped her dancing around to the music and faced him.

“Oh no, what happened? What is that big sad wizard frown for?”

“He didn’t kiss me.”

Jester gasped, then the shock in her face melted into fury. “How dare he, I thought he was super into you, oh my gosh that liar! Do you want me to kick him out of the party? Or hurt him? I do have a wounding spell prepared today.”

Caleb laughed but it sounded like a bubble of manic energy. “No, no, Jester, that is not necessary. He...well, he kissed Frumpkin.”

Jester’s face twisted up, fighting the urge to laugh while still trying to feel bad for her friend. The laughter won out. “He did _what_?” She kept giggling. “Frumpkin? Why would he- what would make him- Caleb can you explain from the beginning?”

Caleb shrugged, looking out across the crowd with a sigh. “I think he panicked.”

“Okay, okay, well it’s Essek. That kinda makes sense. So why didn’t you?” Jester asked.

“Why didn’t I…?”

“Why didn’t _you_ kiss _him_?”

There was a long pause and Caleb sighed again. “ _Schiesse_ , I think I panicked too. I need to go find him, don’t I?”

Jester slapped him on the back. “Go get him.”

Caleb started pushing his way through the dancing people and kissing couples in the crowd, trying to find that familiar white hair amongst the celebration. He could just hear Jester over the noise.

“I mean ‘him’ as in Essek, not Frumpkin, just to be clear! Don’t you kiss a cat too!”

.

.

.

Essek was out on the most remote balcony, having clamored through the crowd in a blind panic after kissing Caleb’s _cat_ instead of Caleb himself. The surroundings had gotten to him. It wasn’t that he was inexperienced, or that he didn’t want to, but it had suddenly felt like immense pressure to perform this kissing tradition, publicly surrounded by friends and strangers and a countdown that only succeeded in making his heartbeat race faster. If Essek could make a list of first kiss situations with Caleb, a public function with a timer would be last on the list.

He was so caught up in his anxious thoughts, he didn’t hear Caleb step in through the window until he was quite close to him.

“Essek-” Caleb took a step back as Essek spun around startled. “Oh, apologies, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“No, that is alright, I was just…” There was no honest excuse Essek could give other than “ _avoiding you out of embarrassment_ ”.

“You know, ah,” Caleb took a deep breath and looked right into Essek’s eyes. “We are both similar in many ways.”

“As you have said.” Essek felt suddenly nervous as to where this conversation was going. The last time Caleb had begun such a speech was a very different party.

“And I believe we both do not excel in crowds like this.” Caleb gestured at the noisy festivities through the window behind them. “Out here, it is much better.”

Essek half-smiled. “The fresh air and quiet do help.”

“I agree.” Caleb took a step forward, although there wasn’t much room to do so on the small balcony. He was inches from Essek again, an imitation of their position from not too long ago. “Would you like to try again?”

“Do you mean…?” Essek could feel his cheeks warming even against the chilly night air.

Caleb smiled. “On our own time, in our own way.”

“Yes.” Essek had no words that could convey the joyous bubble that was rising in him. It wasn’t the wine, it wasn’t the pressure of tradition. He _wanted_ to. “Yes, Caleb, I would very much like-”

Caleb leaned over and gently pressed his lips to Essek’s, lightly at first, seemingly waiting for a response. Essek quickly reached up to tangle a hand in Caleb’s hair, pulling him further in to deepen the kiss. It was the cue Caleb was waiting for. His hands went to Essek’s waist, pulling him flush against him, opening his mouth against Essek’s own. Essek stepped forward, taking Caleb with him, pinning him lightly against the outside wall. They stayed like that for minutes, for hours, they didn’t know. Hands finding sneaky paths under clothes, lips kissing down jaws and necks and collarbones, and then-

_BOOM!_

Caleb jumped, knocking his forehead against Essek’s.

_KABOOM!_

“What was that?” Essek turned his head, not wanting to pull away too much from Caleb just yet.

A second eruption of fireworks was exploding into the sky, ear-shockingly close. It seemed the Lavish Chateau was launching their own fireworks right from the roof, the colors and numbers competing with the city’s own midnight display.

Caleb reluctantly let go of Essek’s waist to press a hand to his ear. “Can we-?”

Essek nodded, squinting against the noise. The two of them clamored back inside through the window. The celebration had slowed down a little, some groups and couples certainly retiring to their rooms for the night or continuing a jaunty bar hop through the city, and so Caleb and Essek easily found an empty table in a corner that wasn’t too sticky with spilled drinks. 

Caleb pulled a chair over so there would be two and sat down. Essek ignored the empty chair and sat on Caleb’s lap, facing him with a twinkle in his eyes.

“You know, I think I may have found a little new year's luck after all.” He leaned down, kissing those now-familiar lips again. “Or perhaps some new year’s courage.”

Caleb walked his fingers slowly up Essek’s thighs, smiling through the kiss. “I am very glad we both did. I was...nervous to chase after you.”

“Oh?” Essek drew back. “Did you think I did not want you? Because I certainly do.” He pressed his lips to Caleb’s again.

“Well, you did kiss my cat first.” 

Essek laughed, his breath tickling across Caleb’s lips. “I panicked. Can you blame me?”

“No, I think I would have done the same.” He wrapped his arms around Essek, drawing him closer.

“What, kiss your cat?”

“No, no, Frumpkin has had enough little kisses from me over the years. He really is a spoiled little prince.”

Essek leaned slightly back, looking down at Caleb through his lashes. “Should I be jealous?” There was a dancing grin on his lips.

Caleb reached up, cupping Essek’s jaw, letting his thumb trace gently across Essek’s lower lip. “Less talking, more-”

“Kissing.” Essek finished his sentence and his action, swooping down to hungrily kiss Caleb again. 

.

.

.

They had rung in the new year in their own way, which suited them just fine. The pressure to seek a kiss at midnight may be a tradition, but it wasn’t a _rule_ , not that Essek or Caleb liked to play strict to the rules all the time.

However, much to the delight of their friends and dismay of the new couple, the tradition of an ice water shower to welcome the new year proved to be very, very true. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> CritRole and shadowgast has kept me sane in 2020, so consider this sweet short fic my love letter to the fandom and all of you lovely people :)
> 
> Thank you for reading, commenting, and kudos. :)
> 
> (As always, feel free to follow me on [tumblr](https://rainbowcaleb.tumblr.com/) for more critrole shenanigans, or to prompt me with more fic to write!)


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